it is known for a threat. the other side, the taliban defense the farmer's right to grow poppy. in facing this drought and adapting to it, farmers have an economic motivation to support the taliban because the conflict will defend their right to grow the one crop that is economically viable in the environmental crisis they face. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. up next on booktv, fox news political commentator margaret hoover argues that the republican party has the opportunity to read the fine and strengthen itself by attracting the millennial generation. this is about an hour. >> it is a pleasure to welcome margaret hoover. in some respects she and ronald reagan have the same goals in

mind. that expands even to margaret. before i get to the explanation, allow me to spend a few particular biographical details on margaret that follow her everywhere and are essential to understanding who she is and what she is in the middle of accomplishing. some facts that are important for you to know. she is the great granddaughter of herbert hoover, thirty-fourth president of the united states. she worked on two presidential campaigns. one in the white house with president bush 43 and on capitol hill. she appears weekly as everyone in this audience knows as a political commentator on fox news. she is known as a cultural warrior. on bill o'reilly's the factor tv show. in addition being on the board

of overseers for the hoover institution in stanford she is on the board of the herbert hoover presidential library. finally she is here today with her husband, john avalon of newsweek and the daily beast among others including cnn as well as her parents, andrew and genie hoover. andrew is herbert hoover's grandson. i would like to welcome you all today. [applause] among her many goals in life two arkie at present. as i noted before they align quite well with the kinds of things we care about at the reagan foundation. the first involves brand relevance. if you are a follower of the reagan foundation library our mission is what we stand for. you can't help but have noticed

in the last couple years that we have bent over backwards to furnace the image and legacy of ronald reagan. into the minds of americans. we have taken the opportunity in the centennial to reach millions of americans and remind them not just what ronald reagan was as a man but more importantly what he stood for. so i am here to report the reagan brand is in great shape. most recent reagan survey revealed he is the most admired president among all americans. [applause] margaret too is sunni mission. she faces a different but related challenge. she has set course to build and where it needs it repair the brand of the republican party

itself. i will let margaret do you how she believes this is possible. suffice it to say she brings to the table ideas for her name and her reach the ability to attract many newcomers to the republican rant. i will call this the mission of margaret attracting young people like never before. here at the reagan foundation we have an overwhelming interest in attracting young people particularly those who were either not even alive when president reagan was president or old enough to vote for him for an understanding of who he was and what his ideas were important. without this knowledge there is little chance that they will strive to emulate. we take special care during the centennial to bring youth into wall that we have done to planning and organizing an

evolving. margaret's similar task, one that brings forth in her book involves the single-minded focus of engaging youth of the millennial generation as she will tell you. into the hopefully welcome arms of the republican party. she knows that without them there is no future for the republican party and she vows to do something about it. please join me in welcoming margaret hoover. [applause] >> an incredible honor to be here at the presidential library foundation. ours is the herbert hoover presidential library association. thank you for the very generous

introduction. the subtitle of my book is have a new generation of conservatives can save the republican party. some of you may wonder if this is alarmist. after all what the republican party needs to be saved republicans in 2010 had a historic election. came to washington and in a short period managed to change the course of the policy, especially fiscal policies in washington. in the context of our recent successes, some might wonder if i am being a bit alarmist in my subtitle. what i would say is this is not at all alarmist. there's a real sense of regency and purchase that john touchdown. my book is intended to be a real

warning because the republican party is at risk of losing an entire generation of americans to democratic and independent voter rolls for the rest of their lives. those 30 and under which are called the millennials. others called generation be, generation y. they're all the same. 30 and under, born at the beginning of the reagan era through the end of the clinton presidency. they are the largest generation in america. in 2008 there were fifty million that were eligible to vote. conservative estimates have them at eighty million. there are seventeen million more millennials than baby boomers. twenty-seven million more millennials then there are a generation x. we all know they are not republican. they are overwhelmingly not republicans. they represent 18% of the vote

in 2008. they are anticipated to be as much of a quarter of the election in 2012. they voted in 2010 -- in 2008 overwhelmingly for barack obama, 66% voted for barack obama. 32% for john mccain. the reason this is urgent is part of the identity takes on the characteristics over time. it starts off after they clear certain barriers, begins to solidify. after a three presidential election cycles their partisan identity solidifies. they voted for john kerry in 2004. they voted for barack obama in 2008. this means republicans have 16 months to make inroads into this generation before we lose them for the rest of their lives. this is troubling to me.

not just because i am republican but i believe the ideas of the conservative movement and ideas of the republican party actually have offered better solutions to the issues that are most important to this generation and the issues that affect them most directly. the title "american exceptionalism" is a reference to migrate grandfather herbert hoover and the guiding principle he set forth almost 90 years ago which i believe captors' the spirit of the millennial generation in surprising ways. i will go into this in a minute but i want to tell you about my own background first. the headline or biography, great granddaughter of herbert hoover. because of this i have always been a proud republican. i also had my own journey.

as far as i can remember i have been a student of herbert hoover. of his life and his legacy but also of the american conservative movement. i never knew my great-grandfather. he passed away 13 years before i was born. but by a bringing was informed by stories of him and his wit and wisdom and philosophy of government. it was also peppered with the presidential library which is in ottawa where he was born. all set to the hoover institution at stanford university in northern california which he calls his proudest legacies. i grew up with stories that are common in presidential families only two generation down. my dad has fabulous stories how he learned to make something with toys soldiers because someone with five starnes told not to do it and general

macarthur live on a 30 second floor of the waldorf-astoria and herbert hoover on the 30 first floor. these influences had an impact on me growing up. despite that experience for those sets of experiences i shy away from politics or participating in any politics as i was growing up poor in my early adult life. i didn't in turn for a local representative. i didn't pursue jobs in politics in washington d.c.. i didn't major in political science. instead are was inspired by a great-grandfather's life trajectory which took him abroad in his early years. i studied spanish language literature in college and was inspired by my great-grandmother who learned mandarin chinese. i studied mandarin chinese. and lived abroad and studied

abroad in bolivia and mexico and china and also my first job out of college when i graduate it from university was in taiwan. i worked for a taiwanese law firm. i was a research assistant and an editor and studied mandarin chinese at night. but my first full day in taipei when i arrived after graduating from college was september 11th, 2001. on that day and the weeks that followed i realize i wanted nothing more than to be back in the united states with the deepest expression of patriotism stirring in our country. being on the other side of the globe when that was happening at home have a profound effect on me. all of us stayed out watching television, watching the 24 hour news cycle which really began then.

it was 12 hours difference in taiwan's oil stayed up at night watching cnn as late as i could stay up. the reason was because fox news wasn't available in taipei at that time. ira was so inspired by president george bush's words and leadership as he rallied the country and rudy guiliani. the expressions of patriotism that were everywhere across the country, especially rallied you to patriotism in a way that i haven't seen yet in my life inspired me to want to come back to wants to be part of the functioning of our democracy. i thought it would be an incredible honor to come back to the united states and work for president bush. after a year in taiwan found my way home. volunteered in my home state of colorado for a senate race and

got very lucky. i went to washington and found a job -- didn't find a job. i was hired by brand new republican from miami who desperately needed a spanish speaker in his washington office and then had the opportunity to jordan president bush's reelection campaign in july of 2003. a year later i received a white house appointment in 2004 where i work roughly two years and in 2006 i had the opportunity to come to new york city which is where i was now and the opportunity to work for rudy guiliani on his presidential campaign. during the course of my time working for president bush and sense animosity in my third groups.

not only in 2004, and in 2006 but you couldn't miss it in 2008. holes solidified that the youth vote had turned away from the republican party. for the record i am completely accustomed to being in the minority of my peer group and i joke that i am cut out for it as a hoover. when you grow up related to the most vilified president in 20th century history who my history books taught me caused the great depression, 2 ap u.s. history books they did nothing to solve it and i know this for a fact because the director of the reagan library here brilliantly e-mail because his daughter had at essayed to write about herbert hoover not doing anything to fix the crisis in the great depression and his daughter armed with information

from the hoover library and a director and myself manage to get an a on her chest and educate her teacher what herbert hoover did during the great depression. what has been interesting for me to see and in my position you learn to question the conventional narrative and think independently. these were the greatest gift i got from herbert hoover. what was interesting to me is the narrative has gotten worse in my lifetime. democrats have always brought hoover out as the whipping boy for economic hard times every presidential election cycle but now republicans are doing it. mitt romney is talking about barack obama's hooverville and even rush limbaugh has said the economy is so bad we won't reelect barack hoover obama. i can put that out without doing

a small defense. this was a man who is contemporaries called the great humanitarian. his biographers estimate a billion lives were saved because of his efforts at famine relief. he was the pioneer of a modern ngo. he was the master of emergencies. the 1927 mississippi river flood was basically the equivalent of a modern-day katrina which displaced 1.5 million americans. he went to the mississippi river valley and was to coordinate with all the local leadership at the time to get 10 cities and education and potable water to the cities which was paid by private funds. he was an incredible hero and

one of the first disciples of the conservative movement and republicans have forgotten we have a great hero in herbert hoover. back to millennials. some say we can't get the vote. some say they cite winston churchill when they start voting with their pocketbooks. they will come around. if they're not a liberal in their 20s they don't have a heart and if they're not a conservative by the time they're 40 they don't have a brain. this would be great if it were true but it ignores past history. our history was set by ronald reagan. ronald reagan brought an entire generation of youth into the republican party and this was the reagan revolution. he won the youth vote in 1980 and won it decisively in 1984. it is not true that youth won't vote for republicans and even

the very first millennials when they came to the poll, the first that were eligible to vote in 2000 split their tickets evenly between al gore and george bush. it is fair to say that because you don't have as much experience as older generations, their political views are formed as much by the failures they have known in their lifetime as they are by any vision that is as spouse by a particular politician. reagan was aided by the failure of the carter administration but also was able to communicate conservatism so beautifully that an entire generation rallied to his vision. that is what barack obama was able to do. the youth started breaking from the republican party because they believe john kerry's mantra

that the iraq war with the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place. and in 2005 the failure of the federal government to respond to hurricane katrina affected them as well as the scandal in 2006 in the house of representatives. republican brand damage drove you from the republican party as much as the soaring rhetoric of barack obama that captured the ease those of the millennial generation which is the desire to rise above partisanship, the appeal to service and the result that government could work again. one more thing about the challenge facing republicans. we need youth especially because the republican party hasn't just shrunk in the youth category of the last ten years but also in almost every other category that has been polled.

in 26 categories, economic, religious, ethnic. 26 gallup polls republican identification shrunk and we remain the same in that one other group. we are far from the permanent majority we were seeking but we have the opportunity to come around to win back more than millennials. the message of this book and the way to reach millennials will reach a broader portion of the electorate. what my book is is an attempt to characterize the millennial generation. who they are believers in what makes them tick, what is exciting to them and what they think about government, and it is also an attempt to communicate conservative ideas to this generation so we can connect to them.

what i try to do is described issues where they are already there in terms of the ideas we are espousing in the conservative movement and connect the dots. what i am also trying to do is on issues -- how do we make the case for them? this book is a road map and whoever our candidate is our hope will look to because i try to -- have a professor of political science from san jose last night monitoring a group in san francisco and he thought i characterize millennials quite well. he was admittedly very liberal. he was chair of the department. he deals with millennials every day and he thought i characterized them well. we have an enormous opportunity because there is a good sign that millennials are disappointed by barack obama. they didn't turn out in nearly the numbers in 2010 as we they -- they were expected to. even the previous election cycle

in 2006 they turned out in greater numbers and barack obama's approval rating is down 18 percentage points since january of 2009 when he took office. is still high but down 8 percentage points. that says something. who are the millennials? basically three things you need to know about millennials that are counterintuitive for republicans and conservatives. the first is that they have a positive view of government. i will read a statement. think about how he would answer this. agree or disagree. when something is run by the government is usually managed inefficiently and wastefully. 32% of millennials agree with

that statement. 58% think the government is good at running things. okay. that is what we are working with. this is not to say they think government should grow or that they believe government should have a greater role in the lives of individuals. they just don't think it is evil. they think it should work. unfortunately reagan's government is the problem lie won't resonate with this generation. incidentally, millennials have a very good view of reagan to the extent they are aware of him and reagan foundation has done an incredible job of promoting reagan to this generation, they don't have the same gut reaction when the republican party invokes reagan the way my

parents's generation and older do because they didn't experience him firsthand. incidentally the hoover library will take a few pages from your book on promoting the brand of ronald reagan for herbert hoover. secondly politics is pragmatic, not ideological. 40% of them call themselves moderate. 29% liberal. twenty-nine% conservative. they simply don't buy into rigid ideology. and i think this is how barack obama's rhetoric appealed to them. he was not for red states or blue states but the united states of america. and also making government work again. they love this. this is the government can work part. the third thing you should know is they are the least

traditional generation in american history. they adhere to traditional family structure. more have been raised in single-parent households. they are the least religious generation. the least affiliated with organized religion. only a quarter of them identify with organized religion. 67% of them say they pray every day. they believe in god and have value than call themselves spiritual but don't identify with organized religion. as much as previous generations. they have the fewest steps about sexual orientation. this is a generation where a majority believe in same-sex ie marriage. given these guidelines how do we connect to them and sell our message especially in 2012 which is the next big opportunity to

make our case to the millennials and the american people? i think what we need to do is look get the issues that are most important to the country rightwe ow and that is quite obviously if you are paying attention to the debate in washington we are talking about spending, debt and deficit and entitlement reform and jobs. this generation is 30% unemployed or underemplemped. this is the highest in three decades. 55% still like president obama personally, they can see that his policies have been tried and they concede they haven't worked. unemployment has gone up. they know it is awe arrow line. many are still on their parents's sofas or friends's so fars. as republicans we can say his policies were tried and faile%

w we need towe ot demonize him personally because this generation still l5%e him. wewe eed to make a pragmatic case. not an ideological one and not a personal one. also every time we talk about e esending we should talk about health spending in washington is generational. wewe eed to connect the dots specifically. the fiscal future we're talking about. they're the ones who have to pay for it. every single dollar washinndino is spending we and people younger is and me have to pay it

how another issue area where we have -- millennials are already there in terms of what republican policies represent and we need to make a case is education. the millennial generation -- here's another data point. they're the most divers generation in american history. they're 40% non-white, 20% have one immigrant parents. the parrot -- promise of america and american individualism is everyone will have an equal opportunity to rise above the circumstances of their birth. based on their own skills and talents. and they will have a good education in order to do that. that is something we decided a long time ago. that the government will provide a good education. 30% of millennials are not

graduating from high school. the majority of those 30% are disproportionately black and hispanic. 50 years after brown vs. board of education, basically still a segregated school system based on good zip codes and bad zip codes. the wealthy zip codes and the less -- the port zip codes. this offends the sensibilities of this generation and they are the ones who flocked to the charter school movement. they are ones who are staffing teach for america and get the systemic problem in the education system. the reality is we all know this. you and i know this here. the democratic party is incapable of handling this. they can't because their hands are tied because of teachers' unions and they are not able to address these problems and

understanding it with movies like waiting for superman. even the center-left is starting to understand the teachers' unions are standing in the way. the fact that $40 million have poured into the 2010 election cycle by teachers' unions tells you everything we need to know and a real reform is happening in education are happening in states with republican governors and republican legislators. chris christie in new jersey. need to save the state because we all know chris christie. they have a tendency and in michigan rick snyder, new republican governor passed sweeping reforms that will affect every kid in the school system in detroit. this is something to me that the millennials get implicitly and i think we need to start really looking at mountaintops when we have the next opportunity which will be in the next presidential

election cycle. the other issue that ranks highly is the environment. i argue in my book we need to make a strong case for conservative environmentalism. the republican party has a pretty good history of environmentalism. teddy roosevelt, richard nixon, we can talk about climate change and acknowledge that climate change is happening but is also an inexact science. we know the cover of newsweek in 1975 showed that the globe was going to freeze over. we can acknowledge and talk about it in a reasonable way without embracing the left's solutions which would be -- levee enormous tax burdens for energy consumption. and frankly only reduce carbon emissions in the united states by a minimal amount without

touching in the end china. so i think the deal with conservative environmentalism is to put forth an agenda that says the government has an important role in protecting the environment but cannot and should not be trusted to deliver a low carbon energy independence. it has to come from individuals working together and driven by realities of the marketplace. i talk about a couple other issues which i am happy to do more in queue and day. our talk about a new republican feminism. there is a wonderful new crop of women leaders in the republican party the national scene hasn't taken note of. we have seen michele bachman and sarah palin but there are three new republican governors thanks to 2010. one is suzanne martine as, from a border state, in mexico. you are close by so you know this. in new york they have no idea.

i talk about social issues in the book and how it relates to this generation and the legacy of the republican party. i also talk about immigration. immigration is one where we have to work a little harder. they may not be there already were on fiscal issues and education we need to do a better job on immigration and a better job with islamic supremacy which was the war on terror which is the overseas contingency operation. also making the case for american exceptional is the. this is the first generation that doesn't subscribe to american individualism. we can make the case for it by explaining where it is because basically they think american individualism means americans are better than everyone else

and americans can go it alone and that is not what it means. is not an expression of american jingoism. is an expression of the brilliance and exceptional is above the system in america that allows individuals to become the best that they can be, better than anywhere else on earth. not because i am better than another young woman from any other country but our system because it protects my liberties allows me in most cases to become more. back to the title american individualism. when i began to think about connecting conservative ideas to the next generation i found what i was looking for close to home and realized as i was going through my great-grandfather's book american individualism that herbert hoover actually embodied the ideals of the millennial generation 80 years before the first millennials were born.

herbert hoover was a technologist. the first generation come of age with the internet. herbert hoover too lived in an age when technology was beginning. radio waves. regulating radio waves and streamlining them. the first individual to appear on television. he was at the forefront of new mining technology and learned in the heart of the silicon valley at stanford university 100 years before the silicon valley came to embody technology in this new age for the millennial generation. he was a global list. he circumnavigated the globe five times by steam ship before the advent of aviation. he lived and worked on four continents and visited six. this generation is globally oriented because of the internet. they care about public service.

millennials, highest percentage of them, 83% of them say they have volunteered at least once in the last year. they value service. not necessarily political service but community service and service to others. herbert hoover was considered a great humanitarian. dedicated his life to service. the most meaningful thing was to serve his fellow man, and. the last thing they have in common is they believe government can work. they believe government can be part of the solution and they want government to work. herbert hoover believed government could be a partner. he didn't believe government was evil. his secretary of commerce term was defined by standardizing the modern economy. many people don't know this but the reason we get a green half-dozen and dozens and catchers asian courts and

leaders and bricks are all the same size and tires of cars are the same size and bed sheets are standardized is they were not before herbert hoover. as an engineer he decided if you standardize things you can streamline them and make it more efficient. he believes government should control industry but could help the industry be more efficient for the sake of increasing standard of living and productivity of a modern economy. in 1922 herbert herbert wrote american individualism. he had written abroad for 20 years and his experience had been one of hands-on experience with the political revolutions that were sweeping the globe in the 20th century. he had a first -- front row seat in china's rebellion. he had been one of the last 200 foreigners to escape china on a

german mail boat. then he was involved deeply in russia during the bolshevik revolution when he watched the bolsheviks destroy his ceramic factories and watched the rise of belligerent germany in europe where he took a firsthand role in saving -- bringing food relief to belgium and saving eight million belgians from starvation. he became concerned when he returned to the united states that these political ideologies that were sweeping the world, fascism, communism, socialism might be tried on for size and america. we might experiment with these ideas. it wasn't an abstract fear. the socialist party of america in the presidential elections in the late teens at one point garner as much as 6% in the popular elections. so he wanted to try to characterize what the american

system was and why it worked in order to inoculate it from drying on these systems of europe. he called the american system american individualism. was special because it was centered around the individual and it harbored and protected the ideal of quality of opportunity. not of outcome but opportunity. and he knew his story wouldn't be able to happen anywhere else in the world. he was born in west branch, i will. a frontier town with the first president and family born west of the mississippi. he was broken when he was 9 years old and sent west and started his career at manual labor and rose to the greatest heights of success in international business. with the end of his triumphant campaign in 1928 he gave a speech called rugged

individualism. this speech was basically a campaign distillation of the ideas of american individualism. he talked about how america had a choice of two futures in 1928. america had a choice of sticking with the american system of individualism. i will read the quote. a choice between the american system of rugged individualism and the european philosophy of diametrically opposed doctrines of paternalism and state socialism where every step of bureaucratizing business in our country poisons the roots of liberalism. political equality, free-speech, free assembly, free speech and equality of opportunity. this is not the road to more liberty but less liberty. i am struck by how relevant that is to our modern debate. these are the themes we here in the tea party rallies.

this is the choice of two futures paul ryan talked about when he talked about the path to prosperity. if we make the case the next generation, the millennial generation is given the choice of two futures. choose the american system, herbert hoover's american individualism. for a fractured as the conservative movement can be, we all know it can be fractured, i have a chapter in my book called conservative tribalism. the conservative movement is a different family. there are neo conservatives and paley of conservatives. my dad toasted at my wedding western conservatives. there are a goldwater conservatives. there are libertarian conservative. we have different kinds of conservatives. the genius of ronald reagan in my view is that he was able to

bring harmony to the cacophony of voices in the conservative movement and unite us and focus us on what we had in common. not what divided us. he was able to provide a cohesive fusion of them. it was aided by the coalition unified interest in defeating communism and he made all the different factions realize if we focus on what we have in common, defeating communism, we will get there. if your a% allies you are not 20% by enemy. the eleventh commandment hole also. we need to invoke this aspect of reagan today. if we focus on the challenge and choice we have before us in 2012, we face two futures. if we focus on the responsibility of growing the economy and getting jobs back to the american people and we

channel american individualism i think this will create a new fusion that will connect to the next generation, unite various drives of conservatism and attract a new generation to the republican party. ultimately my book was the culmination of a quest of a token surge of a republican rooted philosophy that will appeal to a broad section of americans including millennials. a major source of my inspiration was a book written almost 100 years ago by my great-grandfather. that may be surprising. i think millennials will be surprised to discover fresh thinking and new ideas in the republican party and find the hope and change that they have been waiting for. thank you very much. [applause] [applause]

>> margaret is kind enough to answer about ten minutes of questions. if any of you have a question raise your hand. we have people in the aisles who can bring the microphone so speaking to the microphone that would be great. right here. >> stay seated. >> i am a veteran generation now. you mentioned the genius of ronald reagan of being able to bring the cacophony of voices together in the republican party. as i see the candidates today running for the republican party i don't see any genius.

i don't detect any genius among this group that has that same ability. do you? >> where is our ronald reagan? republican field is still image or. it is broadening. i don't think everybody who will ultimately be in the race is in yet. what i hope is whoever the candidate is takes the ideas and characterization of this generation that i tried to crystallize in my book to heart because i hope a reagan emerges. we all do. >> right over here. >> as you were elaborating about the youth that point was well taken that a lot of youth out there has no idea what is going on in politics.

two people the republican party ought to brace because they have the charisma to reach out to those people you were addressing and ask marco rubio and bob begin gold. i am sure there are more out there but those two people to me probably have the ability to reach the group you are talking about. >> i absolutely agree with you but it is more than just them. i think paul ryan is remarkable. nobody can explain the intricacies of the budget policy in an absolutely accessible way as paul ryan is one of those people who talk about it, not ideological. he is very pragmatic. you understand and he also can connect to the next generation. couldn't agree more about marco rubio. i have been a fan of bobby dingell since my first political

donations within $200 check what i was working in politics in washington and not making any money and i gave bobby dingell a check when he was running for congress. i couldn't agree with you more. we have fresh faces. we have cayley and susanna martinez and brian sandoval. you have not heard of these folks but the republican governor of south carolina is an indian american and hispanic woman who is the governor of new mexico and brian sandoval your neighbor next door. the new republican hispanic governor. in 2010 we have a new slate that will be getting their stripes. they will be getting wise and cutting their political teeth and they will be ready in 2016. i hope we are able -- i think some folks may come to the cable in 2012 and because the

disappointment with barack obama and the reality of the situation with the economy and affects so many of them are unemployed, even if we don't have ronald reagan we have a real chance of making a case and making inroadss with this generation. >> i went to your grandfather's library. was beautiful. never realized what a wonderful man he was. my question is do you think that the tea party might divide the republican party as ross perot did in 1992? >> today is a good day to ask that question because there are specific schism is happening in washington that certainly threaten that state. i genuinely hope not.

i genuinely hope the folks -- is remarkable that 87 republicans came to washington and in a year we have been able to shift the direction the country is going in terms of spending. i am a huge fan of the tea party because without the tea party this wouldn't have happened. [applause] i certainly hope we can look at our successes and also realize we need to get -- we don't have the bully pulpit of the presidency and we will probably lose the communication battle if we allow the government to default. we can consider it an enormous win that we have been able to get to this point. it is a first step in correcting the fiscal course of the next

generation. >> i am curious if there's anyone in the party being talked about that hasn't stepped forward as a candidate that you might consider a possibility? >> lots of young friends joke we have fantasy candidates. maybe fantasy candidates will come to the forefront. i love paul ryan. he really embodies the future of the republican party. chris christie also does and so does marco rubio. we talk a lot about them. i personally hope paul ryan will come forward. rick perry has a wonderful story about taxes. the flirtation with rick perry also represents one thing in the republican field that i think is an expression that many folks like yourself simply aren't comfortable with the field of candidates as it is now.

i hope the rest of you who are thinking of getting an will hear us loud and clear so please get in. the republican party needs you. >> thank you for enlightening us on the millennials. the background on that was very helpful. but my question to you. i want to state i am a proud reagan republican because my first vote was 1980 when i was 18 years old and i voted for him twice. that is a commentary on our youth today because they are not going to the polls. that is something you didn't speak to. my question to you is what is it the republican party can do to attract them to the polls? >> they're not going to the polls for republicans but they're going to the pole. they were 18% of the electorate in 2008. if they turn out the same there

were fifty million of them who were eligible to vote and half of them, slightly more than half turned out. that is proportionate to the voting electorate. in terms of that demographic they are representing proportionally. slightly even better. they are voting. they are just not voting republican. what i think we need to do is read my book. [laughter and applause] and make the case. they may not be to end it right now. they may be tuned in that they watch dogs touristy even colder but they will give the next president a fair hearing. that is our window of opportunity to make the case and we need to make along the lines that i outlined. i think they will hear us. i genuinely think we have got to try and that is the other thing. half of the battle is showing up. we have to make an effort.

we have to be where they are which is on line. the republican party in the last few years realized we got creamed by technology by the democrats. they had facebook involved in their campaign and involved in online advocacy and engaging in. i was at the dnc convention with fox news and signed up for fun to put your text message and president obama would text you and say thanks for being here. i still get texts from president obama. i am not getting texts from r n c. i should be. we knew we got creamed and have done some things to change it. every republican member of congress have a twitter account and are tweeting they vote on this or that. a step in the right direction. my hope is this will coalesce once we have a candidate. parties are redefined by candidacies.

once we have a candidate it is my sincere hope that there will be an honest effort to reach out and connect to the next generation because we can make inroads and we have got to. we have this window to do it. >> time for one last question. >> i teach junior high and high school kids. they hear constant attack on teachers' unions. they know how hard we are working because it is their chance for a better future. constantly the republican party tends to vilify their teachers and educators and the kids pick this up. every time we try to advocate for our students we are

constantly being selfish or trying not to be accountable. i have seen deconstruction of public education. i care about my kids. i don't influence these kids. they are sharp. they see it. unless the republican party and all politicians no matter what party whar sit there and support us, this generation will be not political. >> i said it in my book and should have said it in my remarks. america's teachers are america's heroes. laura bush was a brilliant. she was a teacher herself and put the focus on how important teachers are for our country and how their service to the country is invaluable. thank you for teaching. the republican party is not vilifying teachers. let's be very clear.

teachers are the heroes. this is about a system that has been corrupted that lookout for the interests of teachers more than the interests of students. [applause] when you say we need to support teachers i agree we need to support teachers but the question is do we support teachers by putting more money in a system that if you compare the amount of money we put into the public school system compared to all the other countries ranking in the top 25 and the amount of money they're throwing do we throw money at a system that is broken? or do we find a way to support teachers in a way that reforms the system so that students are getting a better education and more attention in the classroom? this is a philosophical difference between us but i

think when we look at what we have been doing it is not working. we have a real opportunity to make serious reforms. collective bargaining reforms. they're absolutely necessary and we will see real results in michigan which passed all three of those. then we can talk. [applause] >> we are a lot of time but i want to say thank you for coming. you have been terrific. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. >> you can find out more by visiting the web site margaret hoover.com. >> here are the best-selling nonfiction books as of sept. fifteenth according to the

chicago tribune. former vice president dick cheney debuts on the list at number one with his personal and political memoir in my time.